


Years

by dark_brohood



Series: Elder Scrolls One-Shots [21]
Category: Elder Scrolls I: Arena, Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Genre: Character Death, Death, F/M, Life - Freeform, Literally Just His Life, The Life of Kastdal Frey, The Life of the Eternal Champion, its not graphic though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:20:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25013842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dark_brohood/pseuds/dark_brohood
Summary: The hard life of the Eternal Champion, Kastdal Frey, from his birth until his death, and everything in between.
Relationships: Agent of Daggerfall (Elder Scrolls)/Original Character(s), Eternal Champion (Elder Scrolls)/Original Character(s)
Series: Elder Scrolls One-Shots [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1110678
Kudos: 4





	Years

Kastdal Frey was two when he was first told the significance of his eyes.

Eyes as gold as the sun, they were the results of the blood of Meridia that flowed through the veins of every Frey child, for hundreds of years. Stories that had past down from parent to child said that the first Frey to have the golden eyes and hair was the Vestige, who saved the world during the second era. Kastdal didn’t know if he believed it. All he knew was his eyes were pretty and people complimented him on them all the time.

He was four when he was given his first taught the skills of larceny.

He was handed a lockpick by his mother, eyes the same colour as his, and shown how to pick a lock. He’d been around thieves and assassins for years, always cooing at him and his brother, wanting to teach them their trades. Their parents always said  _ not yet, he’s not old enough _ and they were shepherded over to their mage friend, who was teaching them how to write.

He was five when he threw his first punch.

His father was visiting Northpoint, and decided to bring his son with him. His brother stayed behind to help his mother on the farm. Kastdal had overheard an Imperial boy making fun of an Argonian girl dressed in patchwork clothes, and a fury overtook him. He marched over to the boy, pulled his fist back, and punched. The boy fell to the ground, and his father scolded him. His fist hurt for days afterwards.

He was seven when he learned how to use a sword.

His mother told him it was an essential skills everyone should know, and parents that don’t teach their kids are stupid. He learned how to hold a sword, how to swing it at an enemy, how to deal the most damage and how to deal the least. It came easy to him, like it was an extension to his arm. He guessed it was because he was descended from gods. He doesn’t know the true answer.

He was eleven when he had his first crush.

She was a Khajiit, his age, the daughter of a thief in the Guild. She visited their farm outside Camlorn to collect apples and berries, and talked with Kastdal while she was there. She was funny and kind, and he loved the way she spoke. His brother poked fun at him, and his parents thought it was sweet.

He was twelve when he had his first kiss.

It was soft and tender, and just like he had dreamed it would be. He liked the feeling of her soft fur on his face, the sharp teeth against his lips. They kissed in the barn where they kept the animals during winter, now empty, after he gave her a basket full of blood red apples. His second kiss was given to the Dunmer boy who came weekly for his family’s vegetables.

He was fourteen when he was imprisoned.

Set upon in his dreams by a woman who was killed, he was given the quest to save the world. He awoke in a prison, taken as leverage-- _ do what I say, or the boy dies _ \--but with the help of the ghost he escapes. And despite wanting to return home, he headed to Hammerfell. Only fourteen years old, he helped the queen, and he got the first part of the Staff of Chaos.

He was seventeen when his brother held a sword to his throat.

Weighed down by three pieces of the Staff of Chaos, they stared each other in the eye, gold meeting gold. Lanan Frey asked him why he was doing this, why he wanted to kill the emperor. Kastdal told him it wasn’t the real emperor, but a fraud. Lanan refused to believe it. Kastdal refused to kill him, and left him bloody outside Elden Root.

He was twenty when he went back to High Rock, and saw his family again.

Six long years since he had been kidnapped and imprisoned by Jagar Tharn, Kastdal came home. He saw the familiar land and almost wept with joy when he saw his mother and father. Lanan was there, too, a scar running down his right cheek and onto his neck, given to him by his brother. They argued and shouted, trying to convince the other they were wrong, but they both failed. Kastdal left midway through dinner, and decided to go get the sixth piece of the Staff from the Crypt of Hearts.

He was twenty-three when he finally defeated Jagar Tharn.

Beneath the Imperial Palace, in the centre of Tamriel, Kastdal Frey and Jagar Tharn finally met. Ten long years of travelling around Tamriel, with the completed Staff of Chaos in his hands, Kastdal fought Jagar Tharn until they were both bloody and bruised and couldn’t move. Using all his strength, Kastdal reconnected the Staff of Chaos with the Jewel of Fire, its ninth and last piece, and Jagar Tharn was dead, the real Emperor appearing in front of him.

He was twenty-four when he saw Lanan again.

He apologised for what he did, saying he shouldn’t have believed the traitor over his brother. Kastdal accepted, and he saw one of his brother’s rare smiles. Lanan became a Blade, protecting the real Emperor, and Kastdal was offered to join the Imperial Council, which he accepted. He was tired, and ready to give up the life of adventure.

He was twenty-seven when he met Chanienne Diev.

She was a merchant’s daughter, who joined the Thieves Guild to get out of the monotony that was her life. Kastdal, a vital part of the Guild now that he was on the Imperial Council, met her the day she joined. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and her laugh was music to his ears. His brother told him he was in love.

He was twenty-nine when he married Chanienne.

The wedding was large, with Kastdal’s aunts and uncles and cousins attending from all corners of Tamriel, even some family that were half elf, or, in Delan’s case, a vampire. Chanienne’s family was there, too, but there weren’t as many of them, but the Thieves Guild came and so did the friends Kastdal had made in his ten years of travelling. He was happy, and nothing could take that away from him.

He was thirty when his daughter was born.

Calanna had gold hair and gold eyes, just like her father, and Kastdal loved her more than anything. She was small and delicate and everything he hoped she’d be, with her mother’s squashed nose and large ears and a tongue that refused to stay in her mouth. Lanan congratulated him, wishing her the best life, one free of hardships and sorrow. Kastdal wished it too.

He was thirty-one when Lanan was sent to Daggerfall.

The Emperor had wanted him to go, but he couldn’t because of his newborn daughter. So, he sent his brother, a man who had climbed the ranks of the Blades, and Kastdal couldn’t have thought about anything better. He didn’t know anything about the mission, or why he was sent, but he wished his brother luck on his journey. When the Warp in the West happened, with his brother right in the middle of it, he feared the worst. But he came home with new scars and a story to tell.

He was thirty-one when his nephew was born.

Born of a Breton father, Lanan, and a Redguard mother, Kalael Frey had gold eyes that stood out on his dark skin, and streaks of gold through his black hair. He was just as tiny as Calanna was, who stared in wonder at her new cousin, and laughed just like her mother. Kalael stared at everything around him, gold on brown, and smiled at his parents. Kastdal hoped Lanan was just as happy with his son and he was with his daughter.

He was thirty-four when Kalael was kidnapped.

Taken in the dead of night, through a window of Lana’s house in Bruma, Kalael was taken and he never came back. Kastdal and Lanan and Chanienne looked everywhere for him, doing everything they could to try and get him back. But all of it was for naught, as the kidnappers were gone and Kalael was nowhere to be found. Kastdal and Chanienne comforted Lanan and his wife, but there was nothing else they could do.

He was thirty-nine when his daughter joined the Thieves Guild.

Nine years old and already a great thief, Calanna joined the Thieves Guild on a provisionary basis, as she was too young, but was the daughter of a member and thus allowed in. She befriended the other thieves, and was taught pickpocketing, lockpicking, and the best way to win an argument against the guards. There was still no sign of Kalael.

He was forty-four when he caught wind of a group of kidnappers.

Based in Anvil, the kidnappers were a group of khajiit who kidnapped children and groomed them into thieves and assassins to do their bidding. They had kidnapped dozens of children, including, if Kastdal was correct, Kalael. He found them and threatened them, demanding them to tell him where his nephew was, what they had done to him, but they just sneered at him. He killed them, and left to find his nephew.

He was forty-nine when he heard of a thief who stole from the Silvenar himself.

No one knew who the thief was. Apparently, this wasn’t their first big score either. They had stolen from all the provinces, all the kings and queens, but no one knew how. Lanan had been sent to find out who this thief was before they stole from the Emperor, but he was always ten steps behind. The thief always left a note behind for him, mocking him, and Lanan made it his duty to catch the thief no matter what.

He was fifty-three when the Nerevarine appeared.

He never saw the Nerevarine, too busy in the Imperial City to go to Morrowind and see him, but he’d heard stories from Caius Cosades and other Blades officials. A redguard with gold eyes, imprisoned by the Emperor and then sent to Morrowind, survived corprus, and saved the world from Dagoth-Ur. Nerevar reborn, and the greatest thief to ever live. Kastdal had no doubt who it was.

He was fifty-four when Kalael came back.

Twenty-two and already tired, Kalael appeared on Kastdal’s doorway, certain he was his father. He cried tears of joy, but told him no, that was his brother. Lanan smiled for the first time in years, crying himself, and he met his cousin Calanna. He told them of his life, how he had stolen a lot, and that he was sorry for everything he’d done. Calanna told him they were all thieves, and there was nothing to be sorry about.

He was fifty-nine when Calanna saved the world.

Imprisoned because of a snitch inside the Guild, Calanna met the Emperor in her cell and he let her escape with him. She sought out his son after his death, the Amulet of Kings wrapped around her fist, and stopped Mehrunes Dagon from entering Nirn in his true and terrible form. She had fallen in love with the Emperor’s son, and he her, but he sacrificed himself to seal Oblivion up forever. Kastdal comforted her as she cried beneath his statue, and saw her off when she started on her next adventure.

He was sixty when his grandson was born.

Calanna came back with white streaking her hair and a baby bundled in her arms. She had tears in her eyes, and she begged for him and her mother to look after him. She told them what she had been doing these past seven months, told them she had been in Sheogorath’s realm of Oblivion, and was going to save it like she did Tamriel. They told her they would look after her son, and they watched as she left again.

He didn’t to raise him like he did Calanna. At the age of sixty-two, with his wife by his side, sickness took him, and he died with a life well lived.


End file.
